Once upon a time, in a city about 3 hours south of Edmonton, a young 16 year old girl was getting a musical education from a friend at a music store I can't remember the name of (that isn't Hot Wax) in the Kensington area of Calgary. She was being introduced to Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan and an eclectic radio station called CKUA.

Then, fast forward so we are all moving really fast and having the quickest, most high-pitched incoherent conversations......

.....and TADA!! We are in the present, 17 years after that. I'm still listening to all those things and last Thursday afternoon, I got to tour my favorite radio station. I met some rad people, including Brian Dunsmore, the Executive Producer of the station and got a bit of a history lesson in the basement.

It was almost better than Record Store Day. Mostly because I don't have a record player yet. I snapped some photos, made some new friends, and even got to record a little testimonial about why I think CKUA is important. For an avid radio listener, it was a pretty stellar day. And I get to go back! The reason I got a tour of the station is because I am teaming up with their fundraising this campaign. Sort of. On Friday, May 2 from 11-2 I will be somewhere in the lobby at the station, working on a painting (or a small series of paintings) from some of the station's archived photos. The painting (or paintings) will then be available for auction during the Whyte Avenue Artwalk in July. The proceeds raised will go directly to the station. The photos I will be painting from are in this lovely gem of a book that I was kindly given at the end of my tour:

I'm pretty excited about this. I listen to CKUA an awful lot. It's the reason I wanted an alarm clock so I can wake up to the radio. I can't think of a better way to contribute to a station I love than to do what I do best: listen and paint.